German violinist Benjamin Günst took the top prize following the final round on 25 October 2024
The Max Rostal International Competition held its final round for the violin discipline on 25 October 2024 at the Berlin University of the Arts. Three violinists performed a violin concerto with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, conducted by Pavel Baleff.
Following the performances, the jury awarded first prize to German violinist Benjamin Günst, who played Prokofiev Violin Concerto no.1 in D major. The 22-year-old received €7,000, plus five sets of strings from Pirastro.
Günst also won the audience prize of €1,000 and the special prize for the best interpretation of the competition’s commissioned work, worth €500.
Günst is currently studying with Antje Weithaas at the Hanns Eisler University of Music in Berlin. He recently received the City of Kiel’s Culture Prize in June 2024 and has been playing on a 1733 Carlo Bergonzi violin since December 2023, on loan from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins.
Ukrainian violinist Varvara Vasylieva won second prize of €3,000 and three sets of Pirastro strings, while Chinese violinist YiWei Gu won third prize of €1,500, plus a set of Pirastro strings. Gu also received the special prize of the Freunde Junger Musiker Berlin e.V., worth €500.
The jury comprised Marianne Piketty, Kyung Sun Lee, Christoph Poppen, Lars Anders Tomter, Nils Mönkemeyer, Carol Rodland, and was chaired by David Geringas. The competition’s artistic direction was under Nora Chastain and Harmut Rohde.
The violin results followed the finals of the viola discipline on 24 October, which was won by South Korean violist Kyungsik Shin.
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